In a tremendous coup for Australian Rules football in Europe, and the game in general, Prince Charles has become Patron of AFL Europe. The story below, kindly shared with us by AFL Europe, details this landmark appointment. 

 When he was a student at Timbertop (a campus of Geelong Grammar School) near Mansfield, north-east of Melbourne, in 1966, he is unlikely to have escaped exposure to Australian Rules football. He was a student at the campus from January to August of that year: the same year that St Kilda would go and win their only premiership against Collingwood. He also spent some time in Geelong as part of his curriculum requirements, further adding to his awareness of the game. 

Periodically, Prince Charles has been presented with footballs at various events, even as recently as last year when Tony Woods (AFL International Development Manager) and Chris Dow (AFL Europe Chairman) presented The Prince of Wales with another Sherrin.

A recent conversation with Morten Merhøj from the newly formed Odense Lions in Denmark is a revealing study of how a club has ridden the roller coaster of development and come through to be a new potential force in years to come on the Danish footy landscape. The following article is that story through Morten’s eyes: a story of dreams, setbacks, determination and bringing a vision to life.

“Well the story of how Odense Lions started really goes back to the year 2011. Daniel Petrolo and a few other guys tried to start a team in Odense.” (see previous story linked here )

 

In the second of Bigfooty Media's Jason Lassey's interviews about footy outside Australia he speaks to AFL Germany President Fabian Cordts. You can read more about this interview here.

Jason Lassey from Bigfooty Media has begun a series of interviews with people involved with footy outside Australia.  Below is the first in his series of interviews.  He chats in depth with ARFLI's Cian Quigley about footy in Ireland, Irish players in the AFL, the International Rules series and the upcoming IC14.  You can read more on the Bigfooty Forums here.

Charles Bernigaud bought home a little more than postcards and stuffed koalas from his trip to Australia. Amongst his collection of souvenirs was a new love. “I discovered that sport [Australian Rules football] when I was in Australia for a year, and I was really amazed by intensity [of the game]. From there an opportunity grew for him to “bring a piece of it [the trip and Australia] to France”.

And so, the ALFA Lions were born.

Lyon is the second largest city in France, with a population of around two million people within the greater urban area. It is in the central-eastern part of the country between Paris and Marseille.  Charles explains that “I made a request at the beginning of the year to the CNFA and asked them if there were any [Australian Rules] teams around Lyon I can play for. They answered no and told me that closest teams were in Strasbourg, Marseille and Paris. It was a good opportunity [to grow a club], because Lyon is well situated geographically. It’s the second biggest city of France so we knew that we could create something good.”

 

In this second article of the series which looks back at the recent tournament in France, the event organisers chat with Ben MacCormac (AFL Europe General Manager)  about the event from the point of view of AFL Europe. These answers were given by Ben to Alban Schieber and the event organisers, unless otherwise indicated.

This is the first in a series of questions and answers discussing the recent Euro Cup in France. The three articles will take a look at different aspects of the event.  Alban Schieber and Frederic Zohar worked tirelessly with their team to put together the event. In the afterglow of the event, here is their take on what the Euro Cup was, how it came together and how successful it was. These answers are provided by Alban Schieber, unless otherwise indicated.

The Zagreb Hawks have this year won the Croatian league for the first time since their foundation in 2006.

The 9-a-side league, featuring 3 Croatian clubs and the Downunder Dogs from Graz, Austria, has seen the Zagreb Hawks come runners-up on a number of occasions, but never clinch the big prize.

After reaching the low point of their history in 2012, struggling to field a full side and losing to the Velika Gorica Bombers (now the Dockers), Zaprude Giants and Downunder Dogs, this year was completely something different.

From October 2012, the Hawks undertook a rebuilding program and have since grown the largest playing numbers in the league. This included trading Milijan Mamić to the Dockers in return for Tomislav Cvetko - Knights captain and European Championship 2013 top scorer - and unearthing some young guns such as Josip Habljak, selected in the ruck for the All-European team from the 2013 European Championships.

The European Crusaders women’s team defeated the French Inattendues 45-26 at the Axios Euro Cup’s women’s game.

The women’s game was played in four quarters of fifteen minutes. The Crusaders, let by experienced Italian coach Mattia Sacchi, came out far stronger than the French expected, and the Inattendues, led by coach Pascal Ivorra, we not able to keep up. However, despite both sides having many players new to the game, the game was still very exciting and both sides showed great skill throughout the game. Switzerland player Erin Walter was named best on ground.

The England Dragonslayers have sent out their official review of their successful Axios 2013 Euro Cup campaign, with the following article and photos courtesy of coach Rob Fielder.